Merry Christmas, my fellow Contestshippers!
(Seriously, this sounded much better in German. Sorry!!!)
Everything is fleeting. The snow that sparkles beautifully today will already be melted away tomorrow. The people, however lively they are now, will die someday and leave behind nothing but memories…
A little girl walked down a narrow path with snow piled up on both sides, clutching her mother's hand.
"Mummy, can't we make a snowman?," the little girl begged.
"If you want to. But I have nothing to put in his face, not even a carrot," replied the mother.
"Doesn't matter, I'm gonna find something. But first of all, we need to make a reeeeeally big snow ball." The little girl went to work enthusiasticly.
After a long while she was finally satisfied with her work. But the face was still missing. "There's gotta be something somewhere…," she mumbled, until she finally found what she was searching for: Two nice black stones of about the same size, some smaller stones and a little branch, which she all attached to the snowman's head in order to form a face.
Happily she gazed at her completed work of art. "Look, mummy, how beautiful! My snowman is the best man in the world! Once I'm grown up, I'm gonna marry you, Mister Snowman."
Her mother smiled. "I guess by then you'll have found someone you like better." "Never ever!," the little girl protested energetically.
"In the meadow we can build a snowman…," a young woman hummed as she carried her shopping bags through the town. She had finally bought everything she needed for Christmas, the food her mother had wanted her to buy, the little presents for her family and close friends and a new dress she wanted to wear at the Christmas dinner.
"Hey, Little Red Riding Hood, where are you going?," she suddenly heard someone say.
"Very funny, Drew," the young woman replied, trying to ignore her boyfriend's comment directed at her red hat and instead loaded half of her shopping bags into his arms. "Instead of making stupid jokes, you should better help me carry these."
"Goodness, what's in there? Stones?," he asked. "No stones, just food." "Well, it's no wonder you're getting fatter every day, May," Drew teased.
"Excuse me, Mister! Apart from the fact that I'm not the tiniest bit fat, I am of course not going to eat those all by myself."
"I'm just joking," Drew tried to calm her down. "Still, I'm always surprised to see how much you can eat." "Maybe you should eat a bit more, too, in order to become a bit stronger," May retorted.
"Ha! I could carry you and your bags, see?" Without warning, he lifted her up and swirled her around.
"Ah, Drew! There's something fragile in this bag! I'm getting dizzy!" Still, May couldn't stop giggling. Sometimes he was a big child. But she wouldn't complain. She knew this was a site of him only she got to see, and that some years ago he would never have shown that site to anyone at all.
"Let me down, you freak. You proved to me that you're strong, but still I might be a bit heavy to carry me all the way. And people are staring at us."
"So what? Let them stare. Or does it bother you?" "No," May replied and put her arms around his neck.
Unfortunately, halfway home Drew had to give up. He would never admit it, but May could feel that he was panting from her weight.
She hopped down. "I know a way that brings us home in five minutes."
Drew looked at her sceptically. "And you're sure we're not gonna get lost and end up at the North Pole?"
"Well, even if we did, you could visit Santa Claus and tell him you want more muscles. No, seriously, I've walked down this path many times when I was a child. Trust me."
Drew was still not convinced, but he longed for a seat in her warm house, so he deciced to follow her.
They walked down a narrow path with snow piled up on both sides, clutching each other's hands.
"When I was a little kid, I once built a snowman here," May recalled as she watched the white scenery. "I was so proud of my work, I even told my mother that once I'd be grown up, I would marry my snowman. Funny, isn't it?" She laughed, embarrassed. "Back then I wouldn't believe her that one day, there was going to be another man for me to love. I used to visit my snowman everydayand pour my heart out. But then, spring came and he… well, he just melted away." She wiped a little tear from her eye, hoping Drew wouldn't see it.
Drew was lacking words. Her first love was a snowman? And why was she making such a sad face? Now that she had him. Or wasn't he enough? And that at a time when he was planning to tell her something important…
"Let's go home now, you must be tired, and my bags aren't getting lighter as well," May pulled him out of his thoughts.
Without a word, Drew grabbed her bags as well as his and stormed off.
"Drew, wait! Isn't that a bit much to carry? And you don't know the way…" Confused by his sudden change of behaviour, May had no choice but to follow him and direct him home.
"What's eating Drew,?" her little brother Max asked when they arrived at her home and her boyfriend was still in that strange mood, walking into the kitchen silently to set down the shopping bags."
May could only shrug. "I don't know. He's been like that ever since we passed the spot where my snowman had been standing when I was little."
"Goodness, dear, don't tell me you told him that you wanted to marry that snowman when you were little?," her mother asked from the living room, where she had been decorating thr tree.
"I did, why?"
"Well, then someone might be a little bit pissed off," Max commented.
May was thinking hard. He couldn't be jealous of a snowman, now, could he? This would have been more than stupid, especially since that snowman romance was more than ten years ago.
But it seemed like Max was right. For the rest of the day, Drew didn't speak to her much. He didn't seem particularly pissed, though, but he spoke even less than usual and in the evening, he just disappeared.
"Where's your boyfriend, May?," her father asked. He blinked in confusion when she admitted that she had no clue. "Wasn't that relationship of yours getting serious? If he even spends Christmas with us."
"Just leave her alone," her mother came to her rescue. "There's no need for you to need everything."
Max, though, seemed to know a lot, at least if one was to judge by his smug grin. "May, couldn't you do me a favour? I think I've lost my scarf on the way home, but I can't go look for it now since I still need to install the lights on the Christmas tree. Couldn't you go look for it? I'm sure it's still on the little path, you know…"
"Looks like I have no choice…" She wasn't very happy about it, but since Drew was nowhereto be found anyway, she could as well search for that scarf.
Where the hell did her boyfriend disappear to? She probably wasn't going to find him just like Max's scarf… or was she?
"Oh my God," was all she could say.
Right in front of her stood the snowman from her childhood. At least it looked exactly like it.
"Will you marry me?"
Okay, so now she was obviously going insane. The snowman had just asked her to become his wife? But his voice had sounded so familiar…
"Did you really think it was the snowman talking?" Drew appeared from behind the white creature.
"Are you doing this to make fun of me? I didn't tell you this story to be laughed at by you! But ever since then you act completely funny." May didn't know whether she should be confused, angry or sad.
Drew just looked at her, seriousness showing in his eyes. "I'm not making fun of you. I just asked your old friend here for some support. It is true that I was jealous for a moment. But then I thought that, although I might not be such a good listener as your snowman, or not as cool as him, there's something I can give you that he can't: I can be with you, whatever the weather is like. Of course, someday I'll die away as well, but that's probably closer to your own death than the melting of this snowman. So why don't spend this limited time we have together?"
May was trying hard to blink away the tears that had formed in her eyes. "Drew…"
"So, will you marry me?"
"Of course I will!" She pressed her face into his chest so that he would not see how the tears were now running down her face.
Drew held her tight and only turned his head once to face the snowman. "Thanks, Mister Snowman."
Everything is fleeting. The snow that sparkles beautifully today will already be melted away tomorrow. The people, however lively they are now, will die someday and leave behind nothing but memories… But, now matter how limited our time is, if we spend it with someone we love, it is not worthless.
